Season Ends in Loss to Dayton

BUFFALO, N.Y. – One rotation to the left and Ohio State’s season wouldn’t be over. Neither would Aaron Craft’s career. But the ball caromed off the rim, ending the Buckeyes’ topsy-turvy season and drawing the curtain on a career that will long be remembered.

Craft missed a potential game-winning jumper from inside the free throw line as time expired, as Ohio State fell to Dayton 60-59 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday. Dayton’s Vee Sanford made a driving layup with 3.8 seconds left to lift No. 11 seed Flyers over sixth-seeded Ohio State.

1

2

F

#11 DAYTON

33

27

60

#6 OHIO STATE

30

29

59

“Right now, I can’t move past this game,” Craft said, dejectedly. “I just wanted to do everything I could to help our team win. Down the stretch, I couldn’t do that today. I can take blame for that.”

The moniker March Madness wasn’t created because the NCAA Tournament is month-long series of contests developed on boredom. True to form, the first game of the 64-team bracket provided a heart-stopping finish.

The Ohio High School state championships are being played in Columbus this weekend. But Thursday’s Ohio State-Dayton clash represented the most hyped all-Ohio matchup of the week. And it lived up to four days of buildup.

“I want our guys to go enjoy it,” Dayton head coach Archie Miller said. “This is the greatest thing in the world when you win the 12 noon game, because you can sit and watch the replay a lot.”

Fans of both universities filed into the First Niagara Center trading friendly barbs and energizing the sold-out arena. The vigor didn’t subside when the opening tip went up. The Buckeyes (25-10) and Flyers (24-10) went back and forth for 40 minutes, trading baskets and giving ammunition to the many Ohioans who wished an annual matchup existed.

MIN

REB

AST

STL

BLK

TO

PTS

WILLIAMS

18

6

1

0

2

1

0

ROSS

37

2

2

2

1

5

10

THOMPSON

30

4

1

2

1

1

18

CRAFT

38

5

4

4

0

5

16

SMITH JR.

28

3

0

0

0

0

6

There were eight ties and 15 lead changes, none bigger than Sanford’s basket in the final four seconds. The game played out in familiar fashion for Ohio State. Living on the edge for a bulk of the season, it fell behind in both halves only to rally.

“You’re never comfortable,” Ohio State head coach Thad Matta said. “You look at the last five games we’ve played, literally, I’ve listened for the horn to go off to see if we won or lost. That’s something we had talked about coming in. The last five games come down to the last shot.”

Down eight midway through the second half, the Buckeyes displayed their usual defensive tenacity, turning Dayton over four times in eight possessions and sparking a 13-2 run. Thompson scored eight of 13 points during Ohio State’s run.

The Buckeyes secured their first lead since the first half at 45-43 with 10:23 left. It set for the stage for a dramatic final 10 minutes. There were four lead changes in the final minute alone.

Thompson broke a 55-all tie with 57 seconds left before Shannon Scott fouled Dyshawn Pierre on a corner 3. He converted all three free throws putting Dayton in front 58-57 with 26.3 seconds remaining. But Ohio State regained the lead when Craft, who scored seven of the Buckeyes’ last nine points, made a hard-charging reverse layup with 15.5 seconds left.

“They were playing my right hand all game, so I went back to my life and had an opening,” Craft said. “I just tried to get it up on the glass and it went in.”

After a timeout, the Flyers put the ball in the hands of Sanford, a fifth-year senior reserve who transferred from Georgetown. He drove to the basket on Craft, floating a perfect shot over Craft’s outstretched arms.

A mad dash ensued with Craft sprinting down court and getting off a clean look at a game-winning basket. It was not to be.

“It never ends the way you want it to, except for one team,” Matta said.

Dayton’s players spilled onto the floor in a euphoric celebration.

“I was just closing my eyes and thanking God,” said Sanford, who scored 10 points. “I’m just glad Aaron Craft didn’t make that shot, because that would have hurt.”

Growing up in Lexington, Ky., Sanford and his father, a high school coach in the basketball-mad state, would spend countless hours in a local park practicing game-winning shots that looked awfully similar to his valiant play against Ohio State.

He was comfortable in the moment, all the way down to staring down arguably the nation’s top defender in Craft. Playing that role in Lexington was his dad.

“He would push me and shove me as much as he could,” Sanford said.

Lunch break extended into the 2 o’clock hour throughout the state of Ohio. In Columbus, the rest of the workday was spent pondering what might have been.

Notes

Ohio State is now 4-3 all-time vs. Dayton and 48-25 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.

OSU has lost its last six NCAA Tournament games by a combined 14 points (2, 3, 2, 2, 4 and 1).

Aaron Craft concluded his career as Ohio State and the Big Ten's career leader in steals with 337, ranking 12th in NCAA history.

This is the first opening round loss for the Buckeyes since it lost to Siena in overtime in 2009.

Dayton started slow, falling behind 5-0 and failing to score until nearly three minutes went off the clock. But the Flyers weren’t deterred, rattling off a 13-4 run to take the early advantage. Ohio State missed seven of its final eight shots in the first half. The Buckeyes’ disruptive defense didn’t appear until the second half. Dayton had just five turnovers in the first 20 minutes.

The first few minutes of the second half were similar for Ohio State, as the Flyers quickly stretched a three-point lead to eight. That prompted a timeout from Matta and a purple-faced tirade.

“We didn’t come to play today,” senior guard Lenzelle Smith Jr. said. “Our coach tried to fire us up and give us energy in the NCAA Tournament, and he couldn’t do it. For us, we shouldn’t need a coach to fire us up in the tournament when this could possibly be your last game.

Ross disappeared. We played half-hearted for most of the game. Dumb turnovers. DUMB FUCKING FOULS. Allowed them to waltz around in the lane. Tick tack fouls one way followed by nothing called the other. Just a tough tough game to go into the offseason on.

To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift - Steve Prefontaine

They were calling fouls just only for Dayton. Loving got called for the same fouls that happened to alot of Ross' shots. There were 3 bad calls at the end that gave Dayton 7 pts and possessions. The craft "flagrant", the flop on the 3 pt shot on scott and the Dayton travel called on smith for blocking.

rough year watching this mediocre team. miss craft for sure.. but glad the suffering is done for the year. it was really no fun this year following this team. stupid foul (iffy foul yes, but still) by Shannon giving away 3 points... that and Craft scored w/ too much clock left.. oh well, doesn't do any good now...

The difference in the game was FTs again. Plain and simple. Both teams made mistakes, but ultimately, they are called FREE throws for a reason. It cost OSU several games this season, including this one.

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." - Winston Churchill

Easy to play hindsight. With as much as we struggle to put the ball in the hole, I understand shooting it early. If you miss, you at least get a second bite at the apple to potentially tie/win the game.

I would agree if they were not losing. In a tie game, you are 100% correct. However, when trailing, take what you can get. Too many variables to wait until the last second when you have an opening and you're trailing.

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." - Winston Churchill

Well, Q did not transform into the star that everyone thought. At least they have a really good class coming in next year. The lesson for Matta is clear though - Amir is not the answer. Going small is better than having him on the floor.

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." - Winston Churchill

Q had to create difficult shots with contact almost every time because Dayton played exceptional D-Fence on everyone. Not a lot of open opportunities. Q is an incredible, if not Star player. I was impressed by Daytons offensive movement compared to our elementary style of perimeter ring around the rosie unable to penetrate all game type offense. FRUSTRATING!

Agreed completely -- I didn't think we'd score in that situation unless someone made one of those jump shots that we're allergic too, so I would take anything in that situation with however much time left on the clock.

What's baffling is how you guys are basking in your correctness after a loss. What fans you are, it must be fun to be the fan you are. I would envy me too if I were you. I have fun watching every game because, believe it or not, that's what being a fan is all about.

You root to win but you go around bragging about how you said OSU was going to lose? Makes no sense. You sir, have nothing positive to say. I'm serious, I don't recall one time you have made a positive comment on this site. OSU could win the National Title and you would still be complaining about something. It amazes me that you find enjoyment in spewing bullshit.

Thanks for tracking my progress bro! But so you know I rarely posted during this season, so I'm not sure where you saw all of that. As they saying goes, "it is what is" - they weren't winning a national title this year so an early exit isn't the end of the world.

Ross was fouled a lot with 0 FTs. The last time he had 0 FTA was in December against BRYANT. Getting to the line is a huge part of his game and the refs jobbed us in the second half. Chipped away with ticky tack fouls on one end and free for all on our end.

I guess i will be the first to ask it: who are you going to replace Amir with? McDonald? He has no post D and rebounding so-so. His offense is better tho. And they had Ross shoulder almost the ENTIRE offense on his back. When everyone was affraid to shoot, they handed it directly to Q. You need a second scorer, period. We dont have that. If we had just a 12-15 ppg scorer with Q (preferably a sharp shooter from long range), this team would be so much different. But I know, if and but where candy and nuts. Still, this team lacked a single piece to being medicore team vs a solid sweet 16 team that would of held a much better shot at a run. BTW, we have that coming in next year in Russel :-)

Matta missed badly on the 2012 and 2013 recruiting classes, and this was the result. 2014 boys are legit, though, and next year's team should be substantially better than this year's squad, even if Q Ross goes early (which he probably will do, but shouldn't).

Honestly, Matta's best chances to win a title will come 2016 and 2017. This year's junior class is just ok, but probably not strong enough to carry the team next season when it will still be the Amir and McDonald show in the middle.

A little early to prognosticate. If D'Angelo Russell shows up and plays like a 5 star scorer from day one then we will be a top 10 team with the defense the rest of the team will give us even without Ross. If he takes a year to develop then you may be right (if Ross leaves). I have some confidence that Scott will play much better out of Craft's shadow. And we won't be able to play quirky 3 PG lineups (I consider Smith Jr a PG).

No, you're just getting downvoted because you've been an asshole in this thread. Being realistic and telling people "I told you so" are two completely different things... the former gets upvotes (see some of the "disappointed but not surprised" comments) and later leads to reactive downvoting.

The stream of the game I was watching was off by a little and so the score & stats would update before the video. I saw the final score posted before Dayton in-bounded, made their shot, and Craft missed...

Same thing happened to me except it posted the 59-58 score as final. So, I got to think the Bucks won for about a minute.

If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. ~ Bruce Lee

“There’s one thing I have learned through all my adventures and conquests - it’s that some people are just wired for success. I had no choice when it came to being great - I just am great.” – Kenny Powers

I got jumped on a week or so ago for saying that I didn't think the Buckeyes deserved to go to the NCAA tourney so you can jump on me again because sadly, they played exactly as they had all season and got bounced by Dayton. Mercifully this season has come to an end, albeit a bad one. I do feel for Aaron ending his career on such a shitty note!

The best thing about Pastafarianism? It is not only acceptable, but advisable, to be heavily sauced

Not surprised. I had two out of my three sheets with OSU losing to Dayton. Fitting way to end the season if you ask me...

Some people think we’re the hunted.I don’t feel that way at all.We’re the hunter.Everybody wants an angry football team.Everybody wants a team on edge and a hungry team.If you’re a hunter,that usually equates to being hungry.

I guess I will get more done this weekend now that I have a lot less interest in watching basketball.

If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. ~ Bruce Lee

Craft will go down as the most overrated player I've ever seen. Another game he takes the last shot, another game he plays sub par D towards the end of the game, another game he does an awful job passing. Good riddance, he's a great kid and I'm happy for him but my god he's a bad basketball player.....

“There’s one thing I have learned through all my adventures and conquests - it’s that some people are just wired for success. I had no choice when it came to being great - I just am great.” – Kenny Powers

My thing is..of all the problems on this team, you pick Craft as the reason we suck. Think about it man.

“There’s one thing I have learned through all my adventures and conquests - it’s that some people are just wired for success. I had no choice when it came to being great - I just am great.” – Kenny Powers

Craft couldn't make players open and that's why we struggled to have a balanced offense. IMO Scott would have done a much better job of dumping the ball down low and finding our perimeter players in better position. When Aaron had the ball he puts his head down and hope he scores.

Craft has done nothing but dedicate every waking moment to this university in some capacity. Without him on the team we finish below .500 overall. Coaching from your couch and throwing stones from behind a keyboard, classy!

Never questioned his intensity or commitment, but neither of those make you a ball player. The ball was simply in his hands way too much for my taste, and for his fourth consecutive year (excluding maybe kansas) we lost to a team who we were suppose to beat.

Rural...when you're a player involved in 119 victories, a 1000 pt. career scorer, lead your team in career assists and lead your conference in career steals I'll listen to your drivel. No apologies AC. Sad way to end it but you'll go down as one of the All-Time Bucks Cagers. Keep Calm & Spring Game...

Those stats are taken out of context for a four year starter. Craft was a great teammate, competitor, student, and defender but was simply a run of the mill basketball players. Basketball is the game of getting buckets.

There wasn't enough time at the end of the game for him to kick it out to one of our "shooters" for a better look. At least he got a shot off this time, unlike Saturday. He was also the second highest scorer on the team... and had 4 steals, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. He's also one of the few (maybe the only one) who looks like he actually WANTS to win. Man... Craft sure is awful.

With the game being at noon and me having to work it is almost like the team did not even make the tournament this year. This season reminded me of the Eldon Miller years, one and done was the top of the achievement ladder for the most part after the Ransey/Willaims/Kellogg team moved on.

It's not a bad loss. Penn State at home was a bad loss. Dayton is a legit team that competes in a legit conference. You can't call a tournament loss against an at large team a bad loss really. Neutral floor against RPI top 50.

Yea, Dayton was our equal in many ways and this game played out as it should have.

But that only applies to THIS year.

OSU has been the more successful program for the last 50 years.,

“There’s one thing I have learned through all my adventures and conquests - it’s that some people are just wired for success. I had no choice when it came to being great - I just am great.” – Kenny Powers

I'm so glad this stupid ass season is over. So tired of watching this team throw up brick after brick, commit stupid ass fouls and turnovers, miss key free throws, squander close game after close game, and just generally waste the talent that they have. This has to be the stupidest basketball team that I've watched come out of this great university. Finding new ways to lose games that they had in the bag. Ridiculous.

Yeah, after all, Matta is the one that is committing all of these stupid fouls, turnovers, missed shots, missed free throws, and choking at the end of games.

Oh, he didn't do those things, you say? Then I'm sure he doesn't make any efforts to get his players that are doing these things to not do them. It's not like Matta has taken OSU to two Final Fours, three Elite 8s, and five Sweet 16s or anything like that.

Just in case anyone needs anymore cosmic FT fuckery- not only did the Buckeyes suck really badly at it all season, but the chances of 66% FT shooter making all 7 of his FT's in one game is 6%. And the Buckeyes lost by 1.

Also, as a footnote, not a SINGLE Buckeye player this season took at least 7 FT's and made all of them. It never happened.

Between ridiculous missed offensive opportunities, less than stellar rebounding on offensive glass, poor officiating and last moment stupidity by Scott, a 6 point swing ends our season. Did I miss something? All brackets crushed except for one dude on here who said we wouldn't win one (thanks for the fucking negative vibes) and we now sit and wait, hoping Turner comes to join the incoming class and make us great again.

Lose to Dayton, really?! Would have never taken that bet. Embarassing. Period. Sad state we are in. Wtf! How do our players thus season lose the fucking ability to score? Damn Q and Smith, get more practice. And Matta, change the sets. Everyone knows our game already!

If I had one word to describe this team it would be: inconsistent. At times they have looked really good and at other times they have looked absolutely awful. There was a stretch in the second half where they looked horrible and knew they weren't going to come out with the win. It's disheartening that a team with this much experience can look so bad at times.

Not like anyone is surprised. Matta's team losing to an inferior team? It's right there with the sun rising. I love how everyone is enamored with his recruiting classes as if no one else could recruit with tOSUs brand and bank account. Yeah right. Never thought I'd see anyone with more equity than Fickell. What will be the excuse next year? The team is young? Doesn't matter who is on the court if the team has no heart, no discipline, and runs a middle school offense. Pathetic!

DO you realize how hard it is to win a national championship in basketball? And nowadays, anything outside of a top 4 seeded team losing is not really that big of an upset. It is disappointing, however, there is something to be said for the number of Sweet 16s, Elite 8s, and Final Fours Matta has reached.

By your argument, Meyer hasn't been that successful at OSU. After all, couldn't ANYONE recruit "with tOSUs brand and bank account." I don't recall Ayers or O'Brien recruiting, or succeeding, as much as Matta has.

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." - Winston Churchill

I hear that same tired argument every time I dare criticize Matta. Way to strive for mediocrity. The argument about past coaches holds no water. Basketball has changed exponentially since then. Finally, Matta has had FAR longer than Meyer. Apples and Oranges

i had no doubt I would be crucified for my position and called a hater. But I stand by my comments. Matta is an excellent recruiter and defensive genius, but in all other aspects of head coaching, he comes up short. His teams underachieve, lack motivation and discipline, play dumb, and play a middle school offense. He is waaay too set in his ways and the team suffers for it.

People on this site consistently post the issues but, likely out of loyalty, refuse to state the conclusion.

He has had equal success to the top coaches in the game and at a football school none the less.

So who are u comparing him too?

“There’s one thing I have learned through all my adventures and conquests - it’s that some people are just wired for success. I had no choice when it came to being great - I just am great.” – Kenny Powers

Really? Equal success to Jim Calhoun, Roy Williams, Billy Donovan, Bill Self, Mike K, john Calipari, and Rick Pitino? Know what they have in common? All won championships while Matta's been at tOSU. Heck even equal to Tom Izzo? tOSU may be a football school but it has one of the top brands, war chests, facilities, and alumni. Why accept mediocrity? He'll mediocrity would have been nice this year.

I get it. Matta deserves credit for turning around the program. But that gets him blind loyalty? How long does that equity last? Why is it so egregious to hold him to a higher standard? This team should be aiming high!

Wow, you just compared him to what, 3 current, and 2 future Hall of Famers? And I am REALLY glad that he is not Calipari. If you want probation and wins stripped, then compare our coach to Cal. If you do not, then exclude him from your argument.

Matta is not perfect, I get it. But to blame him for it all is a little crazy. He did not foul the three point shooter. No did he miss FTs, turn the ball over consistently when driving the lane, and commit a stupid flagrant. Look, this just was not a very good team. I will, however, blame him for not going with the smaller lineup earlier. His commitment to Amir is illogical. That is ENTIRELY Matta's fault. They have consistently lost players early, and it caught up with them. They'll be back. Trust me, with next year's class, they'll start another Sweet 16 streak.

Have to mention this - you compared him to Roy Williams, who was virtually chased out of Kansas, and Bill Self who Illinois fans no longer wanted. So, be careful what you wish for in this instance...

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." - Winston Churchill

Not going to argue with you. We are on the same team. But I do stand by my statement. The team is a direct reflection of their coach. He gets paid millions to ensure they are disciplined, play smart, and develop. HE is the one that recruits and teaches them. HE is the one that missed on players and refused to expand the rotation. This team CONSISTENTLY underachieved relative to their talent level. The buck( no pun intended). Stops with him.

Fair enough. I agree that the team has been a letdown. By far the biggest disappointment was Sully's freshman year. That team had EVERYTHING necessary to win a title, and could not get past the Sweet 16. Amazing that, somehow, last year's team advanced farther than that one.

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." - Winston Churchill

I'm not a Matta truther or anything, and he's at best a top 10 head coach in college basketball. But if a championship game, two final fours and an elite eight since 2006 is mediocre, not to mention only having one truly bad team in that span, I don't think you know what mediocre means. The problem with OSU basketball is our success largely depends on basketball talent from Ohio (and only recently Indiana, h/t Matta) whereas all the coaches you speak about, while better, have the ability to recruit with their jersey that OSU doesn't have. I think you're expectations for Ohio State basketball are slightly higher than a reality. Sure, we are a top tier program, but a blue blood we are not, and will never be. Matta is essentially a microcosm of us.

"You might as well appeal against a thunderstorm as against these terrible hardships of war. War is cruelty, there is no use trying to reform it; the crueler it is, the sooner it will be over." -William T., Battle of Atlanta, B1G.

I agree. We shouldn't accept mediocrity, but never forget that there's a reason that it's been 0ver 50 years since OSU won a basketball title...It's not easy to do. And Gene Smith, when he headed up the selection committee, did us no favors when OSU was the prohibitive favorite three years ago...

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." - Winston Churchill

The key to the game was that 3-minute stretch right after we got the lead where neither team scored. I thought that's where we were going to put them away, but they hung around because we couldn't make our layups.

As bad as we looked most of the game, once we battled back for the lead I thought we were going to pull it out, until that last Dayton basket. I usually like our chances in that situation.

Really? You know this how? How about he change that pathetic offense? How about he develop his players? How about he stop running off players by going with the shortest rotation in the NCAA? Sibert sure would have looked nice in a tOSU uniform wouldn't he?

Matta took last year's team deep in the tournament, and we really only lost a Euro-League type player and a hard nosed rebounding post player from that squad....it was pretty obvious that Amir and Trey are the least talented (wether they were miss evaluated or under-performing is another debate, because Matta should get some flack for miss evaluating recruits) big men to play serious minutes at OSU in a long time .... hell, Tony White and Tom Brandewie would have schooled these guys. I realy don't see how Matta could have done anything about Amir's soft/slow/shitty play and LSjr's poor outside shooting. Matta doesn't hold a magic wand. The players must respond to coaching. If you want to bash Matta it can only be for the recruitment of players that he cannot develop/ his misses...... we simply cannot blame him for players not developing, that is up to the player. Thomas, Sullinger, Bufford, Diebler, Craft (minus the jumper) all got better while in Columbus. I'm sure you don't want to credit him (Matta) for this. You simply can not credit all the victories to player talent, and blame every loss on coaching failure, it is not realistic.

This team was hard to love. Glad to see some players move on. Matta has to do better. It is all on him. He recruits the players but needs to produce. A team whose top player was an OSU reject beat them today.

Sibert wasn't their best player today -- but the key is that they had very balanced scoring and had other guys step up. It was some scrubola who made the winning basket. We got a lot more out of Thompson than we usually do, and Loving had a three at a clutch moment, but for the most part we have a 9-man team where most of the players never contribute on scoring.

Amir Williams is a michigan double agent. I think michigan boosters paid him to go to OSU and tear our program apart.

“There’s one thing I have learned through all my adventures and conquests - it’s that some people are just wired for success. I had no choice when it came to being great - I just am great.” – Kenny Powers

Dang, nothing to look forward to this weekend, and the Flyers simply put us out of our misery. Like most of you out there I will miss Aaron Craft big time, great kid big heart, but LSJr I won't, another good kid but lost his way thru the B1G season. And Ross, I predict his return simply from the fact the league does not take someone in the 1st round with soft hands. Every time he drives the lane I cringe. Only 162 days til Navy, Go Bucks!

Disappointed, but honestly, I damn near picked Dayton in my bracket because of this yo-yo season. Will really miss Craft. What a competitor. Won't miss watching this team, though. Matta will have better teams in the future. Oh well, at least I can now watch March Madness now as a pure spectator, without my usual OSU angst.

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx

I hate that my two favorite teams had to play each other, but I was pulling for my Flyers. Sibert hit his first shot then didn't do much at all the rest of the game. I loved the way Craft played, but I'm ready for some fresh blood in the program. Scott is a great defender, not as good as Craft was, but he is much better on the offensive end. The basketbucks will be back in the sweet 16 soon...too many All-Americans flowing through the program not to...

If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. ~ Bruce Lee

But, I want to see what he does over the next 3 seasons with the recruiting class he has coming in next year. Something has to be said for the lack of player development of those who actually stay at least 3 years.

“There’s one thing I have learned through all my adventures and conquests - it’s that some people are just wired for success. I had no choice when it came to being great - I just am great.” – Kenny Powers

I applauded you sir for stating what many think but few will type. I take no pleasure in criticizing him. I just can't ignore what I see. I actually like Matta. I wish he would get it together. I just can't handle watching his teams underachieve.

But you could be starting 4 bad ass seniors and Calipari comes along and recruits 5 McDonalds all ammericans and kicks ur ass.

We had the nations longest sweet 16 appearance streak until today.

All u can ask for is consistency in coaching and consistency in achievement

“There’s one thing I have learned through all my adventures and conquests - it’s that some people are just wired for success. I had no choice when it came to being great - I just am great.” – Kenny Powers

Never any fun to see my favorite team lose and especially to a second tier Ohio school. But the chemistry on this team was piss poor all year long! I'm going miss #4 ! It will be a long time until we see another player like him!

Well, I guess I am not watching much BB any more... other than hoping Big Ten does well.... hope the conference puts 1-2 teams in final 4. I think MSU is really good.

As for us, like Football, disappointing season ... for different reasons, but nonethelss..

I am not about to feel great just because of the incoming freshmen... they have to proove. Amir was an All American in HS and he's a DUD... Scott was a highly touted and he's a solid defender and that's about it (so far). I don't buy HS stardom...

We need a big man. I hope we get the 5 star kid who has us in top 5... but chances are less than 50%, so i assume we will prob have to live w/ Amir and McDonald for one more year. Can't stand watching Amir - slow, butter hands, lazy, etc

Well, I guess I am not watching much BB any more... other than hoping Big Ten does well.... hope the conference puts 1-2 teams in final 4. I think MSU is really good.

As for us, like Football, disappointing season ... for different reasons, but nonethelss..

I am not about to feel great just because of the incoming freshmen... they have to proove. Amir was an All American in HS and he's a DUD... Scott was a highly touted and he's a solid defender and that's about it (so far). I don't buy HS stardom...

We need a big man. I hope we get the 5 star kid who has us in top 5... but chances are less than 50%, so i assume we will prob have to live w/ Amir and McDonald for one more year. Can't stand watching Amir - slow, butter hands, lazy, etc

By far..this is the worst Buckeye Basketball team I have seen in the last twenty years. Can"t make a free throw , jump shot, or a three. No guts except for Craft. Amir is the softest big man I can recall....no energy...not even in the game to block a shot on the last possession. Glad we are out as it was hard to watch this team once the big 10 season began. Good luck to Craft..you deserved better teammates. Matta did the best he could with what he had this year.

yup. very disappointing year in both major sports. but future is bright. i just hope before i leave this earth, i get to see a championship football AND BB just once more...

Thad did a great job this year i think, given the lack of talent... BUT it is his fault for not bringing in some A players last two years.. that catches up w/ you. I just don't get how after Sullinger (before Oden, Mullen, etc)... we can't get an impactful big man here.

If Thad thought Amir was that man, boy, is that a mistake. He's one of the worst big man i have ever seen.... he fooled all in HS i suppose. and he was all american ?

I normally never criticize my own OSU athlete ever, just because they are like my family but Amir is one I do.

I might be wrong .. but on TV, I see him as lazy, slow, buttery hands, not mentally strong, you name it. I never understood why Matta keeps him in there so long. He took him out in 2nd half today w/ good 10 min to go and kept him on bench after bad T/O. he went small ... that was right move... but as usual, we missed FT's... Craft (god love him) but at end of game, I am not that crazy about his 'take over' mentality and driving the lane like a madman out of control (he got couple today but more often than not, he turns it over).

better days ahead i am sure, but this past year in BB and FB, very frustrating.... watching our FB defense and our BB offense... wow... just bad

Why the meltdown guys? Let's not turn into MGoBlog now.. We lost and that's that. Craft is gone and it's sad but we are bringing in one hell of a class with some scorers and we also bring back some players next year that SHOULD provide leadership. You can question Thad for some of his decision making when it comes to whose on the floor, what plays they are running but at the end of the day, he isn't playing. It's on the players. Lenzelle completely disappeared these past two weeks, Amir needed a 5 hour energy and the team as a whole needed to gain some confidence before the Tournament in which they didn't. In my mind it's football season and THAT kinds puts me at ease.

"I've had smarter people around me all my life, but I haven't run into one yet that can outwork me. And if they can't outwork you, then smarts aren't going to do them much good." - Woody Hayes

Lost to Wichita State, maybe you've heard of them? By 4. Loss to Kansas by 2. Lost to Kentucky by 2. Lost to Tennessee by 3, Lost to Florida by 9 in the Title game. I don't know much about seeding but all the teams that bounced us, barely did it and they may have been under seeded and we're some pretty damn good teams. Maybe Ohio State was just overseeded? The only example that I could see you getting upset about is Sienna back in 2009! We are spoiled as Buckeye fans and if you thought this team could make a deep run then you might want to consider seeing a psychiatrist. This was one of the worst seasons I could think of as far as meltdowns I've lived through since Matta arrived and I'll take one every 10 or so seasons.

"I've had smarter people around me all my life, but I haven't run into one yet that can outwork me. And if they can't outwork you, then smarts aren't going to do them much good." - Woody Hayes

If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. ~ Bruce Lee

A lot of times coaches won't call timeouts so that the defense doesn't have a chance to get set. However, I've read that Matta was trying to call a timeout right before they passed the ball inbounds, but the "refs weren't listening".

I can't, for the life of me, fathom why Aaron Craft was the last person to touch the ball. Why would he have the ball in the final seconds? Eh... It's over. Aaron was great watch throughout his career. Just not in the final seconds of games (except once).

Pretty sure it wasnt hate, but he hit a shot with 10 seconds (too much time) that turned out to not be a game winner. I cant imagine why hes taking the shot. I liked craft, but he shouldnt be shooting, no matter what. If youre a coach anywhere, that is not your pick. Its not hate, its just part of sports. If it was drawn up during a time out, you cant tell me Craft would be the guy taking the shot.

Its his last game. He had just hit the go ahead shot seconds before, and its his team. Why wouldnt he want to take that shot? Bet you weren't saying this last year after he hit the dagger against Iowa state were you? He earned the right to go out on his terms. And if you read his post game comments, he put the blame on himself. He may not be an offensive wunderkind. But hes the heart and soul of the team. And in the final moments of his career, he wanted the ball.

SMH at the idiots who are bitching about Craft making that shot with over 10 seconds left.

You just know that if Craft would've waited for the last shot, with 3 seconds left and missed it, they would've been saying, "Why did we wait until there was no time left?...we should've shot earlier!"

If you see a lane there --- you take it. Then rely on your D for a stop. Obviously that kid from Dayton made a great shot. But, we shouldn't have ever been in that position. The foul on the 3 pointer was killer.

By the way, anybody else notice that foul when LSJ drove...it was a shooting foul, but they called it on the floor. Turrible.

I am glad Craft is gone. The team will be much better with him gone, it is going to be like the 2007 and 2011 years where we had a lot of seniors and a great freshmen class to compliment. Craft really sucked big time and I don't know why all you guys swoon over him so much. I will get down voted for saying this, but would have gotten massive up votes if I said the same thing about Smith Jr., Amir, Thompson, Q, or Scott. The latter four will be so much better next year. I will be saving this post and bumping it on Selection Sunday when Ohio State is the overall #1 seed.

And another thing, How exactly was Craft a smart player like you all like to claim? He always made boneheaded plays, silly turnovers, bad fouls, ill advised shots, etc… But somehow he was a smart player.

“There’s one thing I have learned through all my adventures and conquests - it’s that some people are just wired for success. I had no choice when it came to being great - I just am great.” – Kenny Powers

I think Im more worried about the depth of the talent we have on this team. Amir is pretty bad, so is McDonald, so at the 5 we have what amounts to a really good high school player. Q, if he stays (which I believe he should), is really clumsy. He can score, but I am wary every time he takes a dribble. Scott is a decent PG, but is hardly a scoring threat and he is turnover prone. ADV is like Diebler…a freshman version of Diebler and I don't see him being a true 3pt threat. Thompson may be our best scoring option on the current team that is going to be here next year, and thats not necessarily a good thing. Loving will grow into a very good player I think. I really hope this recruiting class is ready to contribute right away or we may be screwed next year. I feel like we have the Cleveland Browns of college basketball, problems everywhere.

Above all else I hope for next year is consistency. This team deserves a better fate than this. There's mixed reviews here about the value of crafts game. But you can't argue about his passion. You don't get that from Amir, or Q. I don't know if they feel entitled because of scouting or their high school career stats, I just don't see the passion from any other player that craft gives. Amir had games, albeit few, where you thought "okay, here's the Amir we were sold." Q was coming on in the B1G tourney and again I'm sure you might have thought "finally Qs on fire just at the right time." That's what I was thinking. I was hoping they got the spark at that right time. Never had that issue with craft. Craft was the rock, everyone else seemed wobbly. Consistency. I want to watch games never questioning commitment. I never questioned crafts passion, effort, heart, or leadership. He's the (was, sadly) floor general for a reason. I never got that from any other player on this team. And that's all I got to say about that...

Please stop the bashing of the players. Were they perfect, No. Who is? Let's face it, this team just didn't have enough scorers to consistantly win. Not their fault. They played hard. That's all you can ask of your team and players. Matta messed up a bit by not keeping the team filled with enough offensive tallent, but I wouldn't trade him for anybody else that we could reasonably get. Go Buck!

Losing today was probably a blessing in disguise. They weren't very good, so if they'd scrapped out a win, they were likely to lose against Syracuse and certainly weren't capable of stringing together 3+ wins against higher-caliber teams. But now hopefully they'll be motivated to have a hungry, productive off-season.

For whatever reasons, last off-season did not bear much fruit - not much progress from Scott, Q, etc.

Q needs to (1). develop a better handle, especially when he's working in traffic, and (2). get a better feel for team basketball concepts.

I like the potential of both Loving and Della Valle, but they need to get with Marotti! And they need to take Amir with them. Also, Amir needs to practice catching like 300 tennis balls fired from a Juggs machine every day.

Two things: the game was a microcosm of the season. Inconsistent play all around, even from the seniors. But, the people criticizing Matta are crazy. Yes, we list sienna a few years ago and yes we lost today. But how many times has he led us to the sweet 16 and beyond? Only 16 of 300 plus teams can get that far and he's done it more than once. This is the longest period of consistent success this program has had. We usually make the tourney and usually win a couple games or more. It's hard to win a title. Think Dean smith and Roy Williams and Boeheim before they finally got it done. Matta is the right man for the job.

I'll say this again - I didn't think they deserved to be there - an honest assessment from my vast couch coaching experience. That statement in no way even remotely diminishes my love for everything Ohio State, and that includes this team! I had my Buckeye tie and socks on and left my office and wandered into a local pub here in Manhattan to watch the last 2/3rds of the game and support my team! This year has been as frustrating as I can remember and today was pretty much BAU in that area and we came out with the lower score! I know it is easy to get on here and start bashing away at the players, god knows I ripped on Braxton after the Orange Bowl game - but outside of a completely drunken induced rant, I try to not do that. The last thing these kids need to hear is their own fans attacking them because after all, they have put in a great deal of their lives to be on that court/field, they bleed Scarlet and Gray, and they didn't wander out there just to ole an effort and to lose.

The best thing about Pastafarianism? It is not only acceptable, but advisable, to be heavily sauced

I really wish refs wouldn't be so hesitant to call fouls on last second drives. Michigan last year, MSU in January, and today? I haven't seen the replay, but I turned off my tv with the thought in my head that if craft is in the middle of 2-3 people in the lane, how does he get a shot up without any contact?

I'm excited for next season. We have some great talent returning. Thompson, Ross, Williams, Loving, ADV, Scott, and some of our incoming freshman could be special. Hopefully we see some maturity, intensity, and individual growth. If so, then we all have a lot to look forward to.

Good kids with a lot of heart, played hard, had some good results this season, another 20+ win season for Matta. This offensively challenged team did as well as expected I think. I'm not going to get into the Amir bashing, maybe the young man will have an epiphany this summer and will eat some raw meat and come out with a little intensity.

The will to win is not as important as the will to prepare to win. -- Woody Hayes

it amazed me how on one end laquinton was getting hacked and pushed around and then the second we did anything remotely close the whistle blew. I have always wished Matta would be more like Izzo and Crean and Ryan and complain and go crazy to curry calls from the officials bc that is what every coach does when they play us

Here is my take on Craft. He is one of the best defenders at guard we have ever had and he was a good to at times very good point guard

however he was quite limited as a scorer and frankly showed little improvement over his career

i think as years go by what will hurt his rep as a player is he never had "that" year, the one season at the end where he became the obvious star.

He fairly consistently shot around 45% overall and about 33% from 3 and 75% from the line with little fluctuation,,,that screams average

he had some good assist numbers but also had some relatively high turnover numbers and as a defender there is no argument he was top shelf

but most of the other great guards in OSU past had at least 1 year in which they dazzled

Kelvin Ransey had been a great scorer as well as good passer, but his senior year he accepted a role as the 2nd scorer behind Herb Williams in the post and racked up approx. 6 assists a game while scoring 16+ points, something Craft never came close to, in fact on his career Ransey averaged the same as Craft at 4.6 dimes per game while doubling his in scoring at 17.3 vs 8.9, Ransey is the pt guard gold standard at OSU

Hopson who prior to his last year had been a shooter only also started distributing the ball more and racked up just short of 4 assists per game while scoring nearly 30.

Curtis Wilson who's career numbers are similar to Craft's in terms of pts per game however played primarily as a back up his first 2 years, but in his last 2 averaged over 5 dimes a game while scoring over 14 one year and over 11 the next and was a very good defender as well

all 3 of them i would certainly rate ahead of Craft

Troy Taylor, who split pt guard duties his entire career with the nearly equally talented Ronnie Stokes, still as a SR lead the team in scoring at nearly 15 a game while also leading in assists at 4.7 per game and to my mind was overall a better pt guard than Craft with Stokes right behind him

Mike Conley was far superior to Craft as an all around guard.

Larry Bolden who in his So year averaged 5.6 assists while scoring 16 per game, and who while averaging about 1 fewer assist per game over his career scored nearly 100 more points than Craft while playing 45 fewer games to my mind is better as well

Crafts career is similar to Mark Baker's except that he started far more games, or maybe Curtis Wilson although he was a better defender than both

Craft was a great representative to our team, he gave it everything he had and was a superior defender and good distributor, but never improved in his 4 years and was very limited as an offensive player and hence to my mind wont go down as one of the all time greats, close but not quite

but how can one be the all time leader in steals at any given program and not be "considered" one of the all-time greats?

“There’s one thing I have learned through all my adventures and conquests - it’s that some people are just wired for success. I had no choice when it came to being great - I just am great.” – Kenny Powers